01 December 2008

And every year, I really don't do anything about anything. Because, I like to eat good food, I don't have time to exercise beyond hiking up and down the hill to the train station, and I really like wearing jeans every day. It's my uniform.

Long ago, I had time to exercise. I rowed crew in college (exhilarating) and I've dabbled in running (boring). My favorite exercise ever was taking ballet class. When we were in the city, we lived near the 92nd Street Y, which has a nice dance program for adults. What gave me the courage to take the class was that they ran the program on a semester basis, so there was always a starting point. Prior to taking that class, I'd been chicken - there are lots of places to take class in NYC, every single day, but they run as open classes and to dive in as an adult beginner takes balls. Anyway, I took class at the Y for three or four years, once or twice a week.

Ballet is great for the body, but it's almost as terrific for the head. For an hour and a half, you're standing there trying to make your foot go in the right direction. There is no way you can think about anything else, like your mother or your crazy boss or what to have for dinner. Your foot. That's it. I used to tell people that I was taking ballet class in lieu of seeing a shrink; it was that good for the head.

Alas, I changed jobs - ironically, to work at a ballet company - and I could no longer get out of the office early enough to get to a 6:30 class. And then I had a baby, and then we left the city, and...

Yeah. No exercise, other than that hiking up and down the hill and occasional sweaty bouts of weeding.

I'm hoping this year will be different. Last summer, at the BlogHer conference, I was intrigued by the Wii Fit set-ups though I never actually tried one, because frankly it looked like a fun way to get moving without leaving the house. So I was secretly thrilled to get an email a few weeks ago from a Nintendo person, asking if I wanted to have a Wii Fit party at my house and give away a Wii Fit on the blog. Honestly, what on earth were they thinking? Do they think I run with people like Jenny The Bloggess? I wish. But I digress.

Next week, a bunch of friends and the Wii Fit ladies are descending on my little house - I'll tell you all about it afterwards. In the meantime, do you want to win a Wii Fit package – including a Wii console and Wii Fit game and balance board? Here's how:

Post a tale of fitness on your own blog – a good story, a funny one, something embarrassing – your choice. Include a link back to this post and mention that you're trying to win a Wii Fit – and how that Wii Fit is going to change your life. Come back and comment with the link to your post, because if you don't comment with your link, I won't know that you're playing. If you haven't got a blog (and why is it that you don't?), leave your exercise tale in the comments along with your heartfelt and moving description of how the Wii Fit is going to solve all of your New Year's resolutions when you win it. Whatever you do, make sure I can find your email address, because I'll need to contact you when we pick a winner! The package will be shipped from Nintendo, not from me, so I'll have to forward your name & address & phone number to them. Your post and comment deadline is 11:59 pm EST on Friday December 12. My crack team of readers will read your entry and we'll pick the most charming and genuine post that follows all the rules, resorting to a random number generator only if we get totally stymied. The winner will be announced on Monday December 15.

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comments:

I so need to exercise again ... As I seem to be spending enormous amounts of time feeding (or at least organizing volunteers) people with life altering illness .... you know how it goes, a bite for them and a bite for me ... especially our famous brownies! We fed 2,500 people for Thanksgiving (full Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings) and will do the same at Christmas!I can't wait for New Year and it's accompanying resolutions(Subtle?)

I really need to meet you! I cox'd crew in college and took a lot of ballet as an adult, cross training for other forms of dance.

I danced through the 8th month during my first pregnancy and got right back into it after the little dude was born. This second time around, I'm sadly exercise-free. Too sick during the pregnancy and too busy now. I miss ballet so much! I agree it's so good for the brain. Memorizing new combinations quickly - good exercise for body and mind.

I'm no athlete. I try, I really do, but there is no way I'll ever do certain things. Like kickboxing, for example. I'm sure it is a fantastic workout, but it looks ridiculous and it hurts. Why would I spend my precious free time like that?

So, I got myself a dog. Thanks to her, I walk a lot--usually about an hour a day on the trails around our house. I go to yoga 2-3 times a week at the Y. Now I'm taking this "healthy habits" class at the Y to help me with goal setting and other things (this is surprisingly wonderful and I recommend it.) Oh, and for the most part, I eat pretty well these days. I should also get credit for the fact that I run up and down a LOT of stairs in my house every day. Like, I should have buns of steel.

The thing is, I'm 41 and none of this is helping! It's all true what they say about being over 40, apparently. Feh. I know I have hit a "plateau" and I need to work harder. I like to be told what to do, but I don't really have more time to spend at the gym right now. I'm thinking the WiiFit, despite the silly name, might be just the ticket. I have the space, I have the big TV, and I'm motivated to try something new. Being able to do it in the privacy of my home is a bonus for a shy gym rat like me.

My girls, ages 7 and 10, really need to see my exercising and start forming some good habits of their own. Who knows, maybe it would be fun for all of us? If nothing else, we could laugh at each other, right?

Does stretching my arm out to use the calculator considered working out? How about keeping my fingers nimble by using the keyboard? Straining my eyes to look at the computer screen all day? Yeah, I didn't think so either. The sad thing is, it wasn't always this way. To count working at my desk as "exercise".

Once upon a time, I would get out of bed three days a week to make my 6 a.m. yoga class. I LOVED yoga. If there was one thing I could do, it was be bendy and stable and have all that inner peace goodness flowing. I've never been one for regular exercise, but yoga worked!

Until I stopped. Got "let go for management reasons" from my long-time job. Life stopped. Well, life didn't stop; I just fell into a big, dark hole for a long time. Way too long.

So now I'm crawling out of the hole. I have a decent job and I bought a used treadmill to get started on that good path again.

I have been drooling over the thought of having a WiiFit since they came out, because the thought of being able to do my beloved yoga again (and being bendy again!) makes me so excited, I can hardly stand it. I can't justify the cost of the Wii and WiiFit right now.

I would definitely try my yoga with it--I hear that it makes a big difference in how well you do it but I haven't ever checked it out.

I've always been very against video games personally, they seem like a waste of time and so addictive but I've been thinking lately that if I were to ever get one, I'd get the wii just for things like the wii fit. And Guitar Hero :)

If I have time I'll do this...but I don't think I'll have time until Friday! It'll probably be too late then.

I already know I want to post about how I'm plump as all get out but I love to exercise. I need to find some non-plumping exercise. There's a general assumption that the tubby are anti-exercise. And in bad shape. It's just not true.

Well, if I ever have time, I will explain on my blog. I just want to get that out in the world though...It just seems to be something people don't know.

When I was younger and fitter and still in highschool I played every sport I could. I loved playing with a purpose. Last year joined a soccer leadge in my home town (considering I haven't played any sports in the 6 years since I graduated from highschool) and we play every Thursday night. The ball was coming my way I lined up to pound the ball down field when what do you know the next thing I know I am flat on my back. I totally missed the ball and in the ugliest ballet move ever landed on my bum. That was pretty embarassing.I love Wii Fit. My parents live a mile or so away and I try and go over there to use theirs whenever I can. But I know if I had one of my very own I might actually accomplish something. You see my 1 year old likes to help me work out by standing on the wii fit board adding those extra pounds (smile). If I had one of my own I could work out during nap time. YAY! Thanks for the contest.stacyguthrie(AT)gmail(DOT)com

I just wrote the most garbled and bizarre WRH post of the last, oh alright, week or so. In it, allude to the fact that I could use a Wii fit because I eat cake.

Really, I could use a Wii fit because I am having a hell of a time keeping weight off these days. I am not having so much trouble putting it ON, however. Because of various crazy factors, the time that I can spend at the gym is also the only time I can spend with my kids during the day before the insane rush to do homework, feed them, jammy them, get them in bed, and then do my own school work, work work, and housework.

So. Probably not a unique story, but no less true and no less frustrating for me on a daily basis. I think I can honestly say that the thing I can point most clearly to as that which gets in the way of my mental peace and level of energy and satisfaction is the fact that I don't get to the gym. With the Wii Fit, I could exercise and play with my kids at once.

My friend has one and lost seven pounds in a month.

I don't know. Maybe I should have just taken a picture of my ass and uploaded it?

I am old (56), fat (not telling but we're not talking about a reasonable number here), sick (congested heart failure and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), and disabled. Sob sob sob. I can't exercise in a gym because I'm very limited in what I can do, and what I'm allowed to do and gym's don't accomodate my issues. My house is tiny and there is no room for gym equipment, and even if there was, I couldn't afford it living on SSDI.

But I really want it so I can exercise with my kids. My son is not willing to exercise with any team or group because he's kinda uncoordinated (that's being nice) and he's sensitive. And getting chubby.

Oh, and I'm a really good cook and I love to eat and I need a Wii Fit to keep me on the straight and narrow because, after all, who doesn't need a game that tells you you're obese every time you use it.

I've always kind of sucked at sports. In elementary school, I was the kid who would reluctantly step up to the plate during a rousing game of kickball and totally miss the ball when trying to kick it. More than likely, it was my 'out' that would ultimately lead to the other team's victory. It always was. During those same sad childhood years, I could never master the monkey-bars. For one reason or another, my arms could not hold up the rest of my body. My arms were not exceptionally weak, nor was the rest of my body too large for the average tike. But no matter how many times I tried, it was just not going to happen.

I didn't mind attending gym class and all, I just hated making a fool of myself. In middle school and high school, I learned all the tricks. I knew how to look convincing enough for that 'A'. I'd run up and down the soccer field, just far enough to the side that I never actually came into contact with the ball. When it was time for the annual volleyball unit, I was always in the proper stance during the matches but as soon as that ball was headed my way, I'd politely step to the left and let someone else take over. I had it down to a science really.

In college, I took a Kinesiology class about physical education in elementary-aged students (requirement for an Education major). The one thing that stuck with me from that class was a small tid bit she casually mentioned one day, 'the innocent bystander'. AKA; my adolescence. Apparently, 'innocent bystander' is the coined term amongst PE teachers for the student who manages to look like their participating, but doesn't actually do anything. Gosh. Not only was I figured out, but they had a freakin' name for my kind.

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Realistically, I don't NEED a Wii or a Wii Fit. I'd really like one though. I think it'd be just the right motivation for me to get moving a little. In the comfort of my own living room, I could spend some time 'working out'. I suppose you probably can't say you've truly worked out just because you played a video game for awhile.. but there IS physical activity involved. And that's what counts, right? I don't typically make New Years resolutions, but I do tend to start off every new year on a bit of a health kick. A Wii Fit would definitely help that along. I bet it would even be fun enough to cause me to stick with it.

well I'm in an exercise funk Can't seem to get going I can't really afford to join a gym and exercising by oneself is oh so boring! Hopefully with a Wii I would actually feel like someone is there with me exercising??!! It does seem like it would be fun

I need a Wii Fit to thoroughly embarrass my 13-year old son - probably by using the hula hoop module as he troops through the family room with his way cool friends.And, yes, I need to get rid of some of what I'm sitting on!Thanks for the great giveaway!

I have about 25 pounds I could stand to lose, but let's face it: I. Am. Lazy.However, something I do have is a near-addiction to the Wii. I can kick your ass at MarioKart! Anything that can make exercising fun sounds good to me. And since WiiFit keeps your stats for you, it's supposed to keep you accountable. I'm all over that.

But another reason I'd like to have this? It would help my son. His elementary school teacher has put him on a Balametric board almost every morning at the beginning of the school day, and it's amazing the difference it has made in his focus, concentration, and general outlook on life. But he won't have this teacher after this year, I can't afford to buy the board "system" so I've been looking for alternatives. I've read that there are some things that you can do with the WiiFit board that simulate the exercises, so we can maintain this improvement. The teacher also suggested more exercise for the boy, so this could fill that bill as well.

I don't blog anymore, but my MOST embarrassing exercising moment occurred many years ago, and has scarred me for life. In college, I took some fitness PE class, and we had to partner up often to either spot, count, or otherwise help one another. One particular day, I was partnered with an upperclassman for sit-ups and crunches. We took turns holding each other's feet, and counting outloud for each other. Things were going just fine and dandy until I FARTED. In the middle of a sit-up. With my partner holding my feet. I was so mortified, I skipped class the next time we met. It has stuck with me all these years. So, I suppose having a Wii Fit will save me much embarrassment in working out in the comforts of my own home...just in case the pains of gas strike once again!

Ok, Maggie - Started up a blog just to enter this contest! Maybe it will be the beginning of a great leap into blogdom, inspired by yours - we'll see. Only 1 post at bassettgrunderfamily dot blogspot dot com .

Every time I start going to the gym again, either me or the Evil Genius gets sick and we can't go back for at least a week! Grr.

I wouldn't awfully mind having something in the house to give the little guy a chance to work out some of his energy when the weather (or smog - smog in middle-north Georgia, can you believe it??) won't allow outside play - besides running him up and down the stairs, that is.

I totally don't deserve it, because I'm such a lazy butt that I probably won't even write a qualifying post, so throw me out if you want, but if I DID win, maybe the exercise would stimulate my brain and I'd become a better blogger.

Okay first of all I will confess that I do have a blog but since it is mostly friends and family who read the blog I am a little hesitant to actually write the following on my blog because they would think I had really gone off the deep end if I suddenly started talking about exercise on my blog. Exercise is not something I am known for doing, don't get me wrong I am far from lazy, I am always running around doing something but it is usually not something for myself. I have recently started therapy in part because I do nothing for myself and have really let myself go since having children 7 years ago. I never get enough sleep, I do not eat right, I do not have a good outlet for my stress and it has all caught up with me and finally made me face up to the way I am living my life and the example I am setting for my girls. I recently had a friend and her children over for a play date, I need to pint out that I did not know this woman until after I had children and as we were drinking our coffee she remarked on a photo hanging on the wall inquiring about who the woman in the photo was. Well the woman in the photo was me, instead of feeling embaressed it was a wake up call. I can not believe how many years I have let slip by feeling badly about myself, making excuses. I do not want my girls to grow up thinking that once you have children it is normal to let yourself go, or constantly put everyone around you first. Just writing that stirs up all sorts of guilty feeling and I know if I am going to change the image I have of myself and the image I put out for others to see I need to take care of myself and that includes some form of exercise. I hate going to the gym I just do not have the confidence to exercise on front of others, so I have been walking but it is getting a little cold up here in Maine. A wii fit would be the ideal solution for me and if I had the funds I would just go out and purchase the wii however it is not and the budget so I will enter this contest and cross my fingers instead. This is excercising that will be fun and best of all allow me to include my girls and heck maybe even my husband, he could use a little exercise too! I just know this is the tool that will make a difference for my whole family but more importantly me, which in turn is good for my family. You know what they say "if mommy's not happy then no one is happy" I think that is how it goes anyway! But after all that rambling I should tell you that my most recent fitness snafu would be insisting to my husband in front of some friends that I could most certainly still do a cartwheel. Well as I attempted the most ungraceful cartwheel ever I succeeded in falling over in a heap and pulling a muscle in my arm, it tingled and went numb for weeks. At least I got a good laugh out of myself and everyone who witnessed the "cartwheel"

I would so love to have a Wii Fit. I think it could shove me out of the very static life I'm living right now: jobless and a little lost. I haven't been even slightly active since the summer and I'm sure some exerise would clear my mind and give me the energy I need to get myself back in order.

Oh, maybe I should start a blog for this post too. Oh-procrastination, that is also the key to my fitness comment.

I have lost the same 20 pounds four times over. This last time, instead of just gaining back the 20, I added another 14 on. I was the weight I was at 9.5 months pregnant with my last child-10 years ago!. I cried and procrastinated. Nothing changed.

I started to look at different programs. I need constant stimulation and variety. I have done 8 different fitness programs, got a bodybugg, many types of exercise, and joined Weight Watchers (again). Since April, I have lost those extra 14, but still am struggling with those pesky 20 pounds (and technically 20more I need to lose according to my BMI).

I have been looking in envy at others WII fits. Video games are good at constant stimulation-what a great approach to not just losing weight, but getting healthy.

Thank you for the opportunity to win! Even if I don't, I am still going to keep plugging away. Thanks!

I'd like to enter, too... although I feel a bit guilty to be asking for something in the season of giving? If we win it, we should be obligated to pass on the love by giving away something of value to someone else. Or maybe I should do that anyway? Yes, I think so. That's the holiday spirit!!

My story is short, but sad, but true.I used to do yoga every day. It kept me fit. Then I gave birth to 3 varmints in the course of 2 years. Now I have a belly flap, plus 20 extra pounds that just won't go away.

I made it! Weeeell... I posted before the deadline, and then, as the only parent in the house (day 5, 2.5 more to go) got called upstairs by the crying baby. He wins over leaving a comment, of course, but I hope the rule was post before midnight, not notify before midnight. Right? Right?My shameless plea here.

About Me

It's a journal, a scrapbook, a record of my kid's childhood. It's about food, it's about the pleasures of gardening. It's where I wear my heart on my sleeve, play with words and rail at the world. It's where I muse, and where I indulge my inner magpie. I have one irascible child, and not enough time to read.
If you'd like, you can email me at magpiemusing AT gmail DOT com.